Generating runbooks for problem events

ABSTRACT

Generation, by machine logic, of runbooks for problem events. Generation of runbooks including the following operations: receiving operator commands in a command line interface for an event group relating to an issue, wherein the operator commands resolve the issue; and storing the operator commands as related artifacts of the event group with mapping to affected resources. The method may match arguments of the operator commands to event metadata fields of events in the event group to generalize the arguments to the event metadata and to generate a runbook of generalized operator commands for future instances of an event group of a similar type.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to generating runbooks for problem events,and more specifically, to generating runbooks based on operatorcommands.

For an information technology system, there will typically be arequirement to ensure the system is operating correctly and that noparts of the system have failed. When a failure does occur, the teamssupporting the system need to know that an issue has occurred and needsome way of finding out how to diagnose and fix the issue.

There are existing solutions available for alerting operators tofailures within a system. These failures are presented in the form ofevents, which describe the failure state, where the failure occurred aswell as extra metadata around the failure state. If the failure is of acommon type, an enterprise will have typically written a list ofinstructions for the operator describing how to fix the issue in theform of a runbook. If, however there are no existing instructions, theoperator will have to manually fix the issue. In many cases, thesemanual fixes will involve interacting with affected remote systemsthrough a command line interface, using commands which relate in someway to the events generated as a result of the failure.

Once a new issue has been fixed, there is a need for a runbook to bewritten so that in future operators will have a list of instructionsavailable to fix similar issues. This could be done manually, but itwould be beneficial to automatically generate these instructions basedon the actions taken by the operator to fix the issue.

In a computer system or network, a runbook is a compilation ofprocedures and/or operations (typically routine procedures and/oroperations) that the system administrator or system operator carriesout. System administrators in IT (information technology) departmentstypically use runbooks as a reference. Runbooks can be in eitherelectronic or in physical book form, and the description of theprocedures and/or operations typically includes descriptions in humanunderstandable form and format. A runbook in human understandable formand format is herein sometimes referred to as a “traditional runbook.” Arunbook typically includes procedures to begin, stop, supervise, anddebug a computer or system of interconnected computer devices. Somerunbooks also describe procedures for handling special requests andcontingencies. Typically, a runbook allows other operators, withappropriate computer experience, to effectively manage/troubleshoot acomputer system. Through runbook automation (using a type of computerreadable and executable runbook herein sometimes referred to as“automated runbooks”), these processes can be carried out using softwaretools in a predetermined manner Runbook automation (RBA) is the abilityto define, build, orchestrate, manage, and report on workflows thatsupport system and network operational processes. A runbook workflow canpotentially interact with all types of infrastructure elements, such asapplications, databases, and hardware.

It is known for system administrators to use runbooks to handle “problemevents” (sometimes herein referred to simply as “events”). An event is areport of some kind of problem occurring. In response to these events,the operator will perform some kind of action, based on their experienceor by using a runbook, to rectify the underlying issue. Problem eventsinclude: (i) debugging a computer error (for example, a software error);(ii) handling a software error without debugging it (for example,ignoring an error message); (iii) computer crashes; (iv) too much memoryused on a given server; (v) hard drive failure on a server; and/or (vi)software error(s) that causes an application to fail.

Event groups are known. An “event group” is a set of problems that: (i)have been reported in the form of problem events, and (ii) the computersystem (or a human user) has determined in some way that they arerelated. One method of determining whether an event group exists is bydetermining the probabilistic tendency that a set of events haveoccurred together in the past. For example, three events that constitutean “event group” include the following: (i) Event 1: Fan failed onServer1; (ii) Event 2: Server1 temperature high; and (iii) Event 3:Server1 offline. In this example, these events tend to occur togetherbecause of causal connections between them. Specifically, Event 1 causesair to circulate less and carry less heated air from the vicinity of theserver's processor, thereby causing Event 2. The high temperatureexperienced by the server in Event 2 then causes the server to gooffline, which is Event 3.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided acomputer-implemented method for generating runbooks for problem events,comprising: receiving operator commands in a command line interface foran event group relating to an issue, wherein the operator commandsresolve the issue; storing the operator commands as related artifacts ofthe event group with mapping to affected resources; matching argumentsof the operator commands to event metadata fields of events in the eventgroup to generalize the arguments to the event metadata; and generatinga runbook of generalized operator commands for future instances of anevent group of a similar type.

As used in this application, a “related artifacts” means that the set ofcommands entered by the operator in the command line interface (CLI) fora given “event group” are stored in a manner such that the set ofcommands are linked. In other words, for a given event group, a list ofrelated commands is stored. An example scenario of how a “relatedartifact” is used and/or implemented is now shown below:

The first event received and correlated can be representatively shownwith the following cut down version of the event attributes and/ormetadata:

Event 1

-   -   event-type: io_error    -   host: vm1.ldn.mycorp.com    -   component: /dev/sda1    -   identifier: io_error_vm1.ldn.mycorp.com        Event 2    -   event-type: file_system_ro    -   host: vm1.ldn.mycorp.com    -   mount-point: /home    -   component: /dev/sda1    -   identifier: file_system_ro_vmEldn.mycorp.com        In some embodiments, The operator (with the operator being        either an automated computer system or a human user) will start        a new CLI session in context of Event 2 and will type the        following commands:    -   umount/home    -   fdisk -y/dev/sda1    -   mount/dev/sda1/home

The commands entered by the operator would then get “parameterized” bymatching (in other words, correlating) the above command arguments andthe event attributes (of events 1 and 2). For the majority of commands,arguments will be identifiable in a defined way, typically separated byone or more spaces, and with the argument surrounded in quotes if theargument itself contains a space.

In this present example, by matching the strings extracted from thecommand arguments to the event attributes, the end result (or product ofthe matching) is a parameterized set of commands, such as the following:

-   -   umount {mount-point}    -   fdisk -y {component}    -   mount {component} {mount-point}

However, if a subsequent event group occurs with the same attributetypes (io_error and file_system_ro), but have different values for thoseattributes, the computer system (or human user) can apply theparameterized command set (shown directly above) by filling in thecorrect values from a new set of problem events.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided asystem for generating runbooks for problem events, comprising: aprocessor and a memory configured to provide computer programinstructions to the processor to execute the function of providedcomponents; a command receiving component for receiving operatorcommands in a command line interface for an event group relating to anissue, wherein the operator commands resolve the issue; a commandstoring component for storing the operator commands as related artifactsof the event group with mapping to affected resources; a commandgeneralizing component for matching arguments of the operator commandsto event metadata fields of events in the event group to generalize thearguments to the event metadata; and a runbook generating component forgenerating a runbook of generalized operator commands for futureinstances of an event group of a similar type.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provideda computer program product for generating runbooks for problem events,the computer program product comprising a computer readable storagemedium having program instructions embodied therewith, the programinstructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:receive operator commands in a command line interface for an event grouprelating to an issue, wherein the operator commands resolve the issue;store the operator commands as related artifacts of the event group withmapping to affected resources; match arguments of the operator commandsto event metadata fields of events in the event group to generalize thearguments to the event metadata; and generate a runbook of generalizedoperator commands for future instances of an event group of a similartype.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, a computerprogram product (CPP) generates runbooks for problem events. The CPPincludes: a computer readable storage medium; and computer code storedon the computer readable storage medium. The computer code includesprogram instructions executable by a processor(s) set to cause theprocessor(s) set to perform at least the following operations: (i)receive operator commands in a command line interface for an event grouprelating to an issue, wherein the operator commands resolve the issue,(ii) store the operator commands as related artifacts of the event groupwith mapping to affected resources, (iii) match arguments of theoperator commands to event metadata fields of events in the event groupto generalize the arguments to the event metadata, and (iv) generate arunbook of generalized operator commands for future instances of anevent group of a similar type.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, a method, CPPand/or computer system perform the following operations (not necessarilyin the following order): (a) receiving a problem-resolution command dataset including information indicative of: (i) a plurality of commandsused to resolve a first occurrence of a problem event that occurred inoperation of a first computer system, and (ii) each given command of theplurality of commands, argument value data respectively corresponding tovalue(s) of argument(s) of the given command; (b) for each givenargument value of each given argument data of each given command of theplurality of commands, determining, by machine logic, a machine logicformula for determining the given argument value based oncharacteristics and/or operational parameter values of computer systemsother than the first computer system; and (c) creating a first scriptfor handling the problem event, the first script including: (i) theplurality of commands, and (ii) the machine logic formulas for givenargument value. In some embodiments of this aspect: (a) the script is inhuman understandable form and format; (b) the first script is incomputer executable code; and/or (c) one, or more, of the followingoperations is performed: (i) responsive to a second occurrence of theproblem event in a second computer system, inserting argument values,based on the generalized formulas and characteristics and/or operatingparameters of the second computer system, into the first script tocreate a second-computer-system-specific instantiation of the firstscript, and/or (ii) using the second-computer-system-specificinstantiation of the first script to resolve the second occurrence ofthe problem event in the second computer system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter regarded as the invention is particularly pointed outand distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification.The invention, both as to organization and method of operation, togetherwith objects, features, and advantages thereof, may best be understoodby reference to the following detailed description when read with theaccompanying drawings.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, byway of example only, with reference to the following drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example embodiment of a method inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an example embodiment of a first method inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an example embodiment of a first aspectof the method of FIG. 2 in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an example embodiment of a second aspect ofthe method of FIG. 2 in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an example embodiment of a secondaspect of the method of FIG. 2 in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an example embodiment of a third aspect ofthe method of FIG. 2 in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of an example embodiment of a second method inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 is block diagram of an example embodiment of a system inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a computer system or cloudserver in which the present invention may be implemented;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a cloud computing environment in whichthe present invention may be implemented; and

FIG. 11 is a diagram of abstraction model layers of a cloud computingenvironment in which the present invention may be implemented.

It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration,elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale.For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggeratedrelative to other elements for clarity. Further, where consideredappropriate, reference numbers may be repeated among the figures toindicate corresponding or analogous features.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The described method generates automated or semi-automated runbooksbased on the monitoring of the command line interface (CLI) commandsentered by an operator in order to resolve an issue. A runbook is acompilation of routine procedures and operations that a systemadministrator or operator may carry out. A runbook is a collection ofwhat are herein referred to as “scripts” (sets of commands foraccomplishing some objective on a computer system). While someembodiments of the present invention are described in terms of runbooks,other embodiments of the present invention may entail no more than asingle script. A “command” as that term is used herein will generallyinclude: (i) command syntax (sometimes herein simply referred to as the“command”), and (ii) command arguments (parameter description of aparameter used in executing the command—these may be given as“generalized formulas”) or argument values (specific parameter valuesused in executing a specific instantiation of the command). For example,with the command: ACCESS(00000000): (i) ACCESS is the command syntax(or, simply, the command), and (ii) 00000000 is an argument valuesignifying the 00000000th location in some logical or physicaladdressing scheme for stored data. As a further example, with thecommand: ACCESS(the first position in memory): (i) ACCESS is again thecommand syntax (or, simply, the command), and (ii) “the first positionin memory” is a generalized formula that specifies that a data storagelocation with the earliest, or first, specific address should be read(although the argument value will depend on the actual addressing schemeused in the context in which the command is being performed).

A failure or issue is presented in the form of events, which describethe failure state, where the failure occurred, as well as metadataaround the failure state. Based on analysis of mappings between sets ofevents, the metadata included in these events, and the commands used byoperators to resolve the cause of these events, automated runbooks maybe generated which can be applied to other computer resources thatencounter similar “events.”

The method generalizes the commands through matching of arguments withevent metadata and enhances the detection of problem-resolving commandsthrough correlation with event resolution. The method utilizes knowledgeavailable from the execution of user interactions in the context of anevent. The generalization of the commands allows the runbooks to bereused for similar, but not identical events.

Existing technology is available to correlate multiple events that sharea root cause into a single container and present this single containerto an operator. This grouping of events can then be matched againstexisting runbooks in order to indicate a potential solution to theoperator. The described method deals with the case where there is noexisting runbook that is applicable to the current group of events.

Some embodiments of the present invention may include one, or more, ofthe following features, characteristics, advantages and/or operations:(i) generation of automated or semi-automated runbooks based on themonitoring of the CLI commands entered by an operator in order to fix anissue; (ii) commands are to be monitored in context of one or moreevents resulting from a failure of one or more resources; (iii) based onanalysis of the mapping between sets of events, the metadata included inthese events and the commands used by operators to fix the cause ofthese events; (iv) automated runbooks can be generated which can beapplied to other resources which develop similar faults; (v) utilize theextra knowledge available from the execution of these interactions incontext of an event; and/or (vi) by taking advantage of this extraknowledge, generalize the commands through matching of arguments withevent metadata and enhance the detection of problem-resolving commandsthrough correlation with event resolution.

Some embodiments of the present invention may include one, or more, ofthe following features, characteristics, advantages and/or operations:(i) the generalization of the commands allows these runbooks to bereused for similar, but not identical events; (ii) a technique tocollect and analyze one class of incident addressing steps andassociated textual CLI commands; (iii) allows for these CLI commands tobe used to generate a discrete set of weighted incident addressing stepsthat can then be used as a resolution for future incidents; (iv) allowsfor entirely new runbooks to be generated automatically from operatorinteractions with affected devices, without the need for an existingrunbook to be selected; (v) a process for analyzing a workflow andgenerating a runbook from said workflow; (vi) uses external methods ofidentifying similarity and uses said external method to identify futureuses of the runbook; and/or (vii) a way to derive meaning from thecommands alone, as well as determining if a command influences a remotesystem that does not have comprehensive state change monitoring.

Some embodiments of the present invention may include one, or more, ofthe following features, characteristics, advantages and/or operations:(i) methods of determining if a command influences the system withoutrequiring the entire state of every system that could be affected to becaptured at all points in time; (ii) textual analysis of the commands,through analysis of monitoring and logging of remote systems and throughthe matching of resolution events associated with the incident tooperator commands; (iii) works when the operator issued commands affectmultiple systems and it requires less infrastructure to give results asthere is no need for a dedicated state tracking system to be installedon each device; (iv) takes advantage of this additional context in orderto allow for the generalization of sets of commands, utilizing theattributes associated with an event to match parameters issued withincommands; (v) allows the commands sets mined by our system to be appliedto a wider variety of issues, not just those which require the exactcommands issued; (vi) a method for automatically creating runbooks basedon previous operator actions, negating the need for administrators tomanually create runbooks themselves; (vii) determining the runbook,including step to match arguments with metadata; (viii) uses 5 stages tocreate runbooks; (ix) ability for front line staff (first responders) tofix and create the runbook; and/or (x) a method for gathering whatVMware refers to as ‘runbook instructions’ and methods for identifyingwhen to execute said runbooks.

Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic diagram 100 illustrates the describedmethod. An operator is given the opportunity to connect to a host in acontext of an event or incident 101, which in turn is in the context ofa group of events. The event 101 has multiple attributes 110 (Attributea, Attribute b, . . . Attribute n) providing event metadata. This may befields that relate to the event, as well as where the event occurred.For example, these may be an identifier of a failed disk, a hostname ofa failed machine, a process identifier of a failed process, etc.

The operator may input a series of commands 121, 122, 123, 124 (Command1, Command 2, Command 3, . . . Command M) during a period of time. Forexample, the series of commands that may result in a resolution of theevent may be as follows, with each command having arguments:

$ command1 --arg1 a --arg2 b . . . --argN g

-   -   command1 output

$ command2 --arg1 h --arg2 i . . . --argN n

-   -   command2 output

$ command3 --arg1 a

-   -   command3 output

Arguments are a form of variables that can be instantiated withappropriate number values to be used as an input to the execution of aprogram.

The method gathers data from resources 130, for example, in the form ofperformance 131, logs 132, command history 133, other events 134,configuration changes 135, and uses these resources for runbookgeneration method 140 that ultimately creates runbook 150 for the eventresolution. The other events 134 may occur shortly after execution of acommand and may be identified as being related.

The description below provides details of the runbook generation method140.

Referring to FIG. 2, flow diagram 200 shows an example embodiment of thedescribed method of method 140 (as shown in FIG. 1) as carried out by anevent management application.

The method may receive 201 an operator connection to a host in a contextof an event group for an issue or incident. The method may extract 202the details required to connect to affected resources by extractingthese details from the metadata of the problem events as given by theattributes described above.

A command line interface (CLI) session may start 203 with any of theresources affected by the problem events, or to a custom resource,through the interface of the event management application.

The method may receive 204 commands executed on the host by the operatorin order to resolve the issue. Any commands entered in CLI session(s)created through the CLI interface, during the lifetime of this eventgroup, are monitored and stored as related artifacts of the event group.Further details of this aspect are described in relation to FIG. 3below.

After the issue has been resolved and the group of events has cleared,the method may retain 205 the information of which commands wereexecuted against the affected resources in the context of the eventgroup.

The method may filter 206 the command sets in order to remove anycommands which do not result in any changes in system state and furtherdetails are given of this aspect in relation to FIG. 4.

The method may match 207 command arguments to event metadata for commandset generalization. Further details of this aspect are described inrelation to FIG. 6.

The described method derives meaning from the commands as well asdetermining if a command influences a remote system that does not havecomprehensive state change monitoring. This is achieved through severalmethods, including: (i) textual analysis of the commands, (ii) analysisof monitoring and logging of remote systems, and (iii) matching ofresolution events associated with the incident to operator commands.

The method may analyze 208 multiple historic occurrences of a group ofevent types and collates the sets of filtered and parameterized commandsrun in context of each group. Each event has an event type attributethat describes the type of event. For example, this may befan_failure/process_failed, etc. When looking at a group level, thematching may be performed against the set of event types within thegroup.

This acts to build a list of generalized command sets which havepreviously been used to fix issues of this type, along with a weightingbased on the number of times the given set of commands has been appliedto these issues and whether or not they resulted in event resolution.

For command sets that have sufficient weighting, an automated runbook isgenerated 209 by the system that can enact the commands on resourceswhich exhibit the same issue.

Referring to FIG. 3, a schematic diagram illustrates event operations300 in which an operator executes commands to resolve an issue asreceived in step 204 of FIG. 2. An event group for an issue occurs 301and the occurrence is recorded 302 together with event metadata.

Within the event operations 300, zero to many CLI sessions 311 may becarried out and within each session 310, an operation may start 312 aCLI session with a resource and record 313 the session start time.Within a session 310, the operator may execute zero to many commands321. For each command 320, the operator runs 322 a command in the CLIand the command execution is recorded 323. If there is a configurationchange event 324, the configuration change is recorded 325.

When all commands 320 have been operated in a session 310, the operatorcloses 314 the CLI session and the session end time is recorded 315.

The event closes 303 and the event closure is recorded 304 if theoperator was successful in resolving the issue and the monitoring systeminforms the event management system that the problem is resolved.

Configuration changes are linked with command if they occur within asmall time window and there are no other actionable commands run betweenthe first command and the change.

Referring to FIG. 4, a flow diagram 400 provides more details of anexample embodiment of the step 206 of FIG. 2 of filtering the commandsets.

A command 401 is matched against pre-defined sets of commands which areknown to be “system-affecting” (sometimes referred to as “whitelisted”)or “non-system affecting” (sometimes referred to as “blacklisted”). Insome embodiments, the method of flow diagram 400, at decision step 402,determines whether a command is whitelisted 402. If the command iswhitelisted, the whitelisted command is categorized as system affecting407. If the command is not determined to be “whitelisted,” the methodproceeds to decision step 403. At decision step 403, the methoddetermines whether the command is “blacklisted” and, if so, the commandis categorized as “non-system affecting” at step 404.

For commands that do not match the whitelists or blacklists, the method,at step 405, calculates a system-affecting (SA) confidence score, orprobability, for each command that is designated as “system-affecting.”This probability, or SA confidence score, may be calculated through thecombination of a number of sources, illustrated by performance 411, logs412, command history 413, other events 414, configuration changes 415,etc.

In some embodiments, other events 414 includes the following: when theoperator (whether the operator is a computer system or a human user)enters a command into a computer system, the command can trigger an“event” as a direct consequence of the action carried out (that is, thecommand that was entered by the operator). This could be in the form ofa resolution event which: (i) marks a part of an issue of the problemevent as being resolved, or (ii) a new problem event which shows theissue being worsened.

In some embodiments, configuration changes 415 includes monitoringchanges on the computer system that the commands are being executedagainst using a change tracking solution. The presence of these changesindicates that the command was system-affecting because it caused aconfiguration change. Some examples of configuration changes 415 includethe following: (i) changing the Internet Protocol (IP) address of acomputer system; (ii) re-starting a network interface; and/or (iii)changing a log retention policy.

For example, the system affecting (SA) confidence score may bedetermined, in part, upon the following:

a. Matching commands against pre-defined sets of commands which areknown to be system affecting or non-system affecting.

b. Determining the frequency of use of the command from the previouscommand history of a given resource.

c. Through use of monitoring of system configuration through aconfiguration management solution to determine which commands causedconfiguration changes on a resource.

d. Monitoring of changes to the file system of a resource to determinewhich commands enacted changes.

e. Measuring changes in performance metrics of affected resources inorder to determine if the commands changed the metrics in astatistically significant way.

f. Monitoring of changes to the resolution status of the event group todetermine which commands or sessions enacted changes.

It may be determined, at decision step 406, whether the SA confidencescore value of a given command is greater than a predefined thresholdvalue. If so, the command is categorized as “system-affecting” at step407. If the SA confidence score value is below the predefined thresholdvalue, then the command is categorized as “non-system affecting” at step404.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example calculation 500 of a confidence orprobability of each command 511, 512, 513 being system affecting withsources 411, 412, 413, 414, 415 used to result in the system affecting(SA) confidence scores 521, 522, 523.

In one embodiment,

${S\; A\mspace{14mu}{confidence}} = \frac{{w_{0}P} + {w_{1}L} + {w_{2}H} + {w_{3}E} + {w_{4}C}}{n}$

Where n=5, weight vector

$W = {{\begin{bmatrix}1 \\1 \\1 \\1 \\1\end{bmatrix}\mspace{14mu}{and}\mspace{14mu}{threshold}} = 0.5}$

P, L, H, E, C: 1=Full confidence|0=No confidence.

Therefore, in the scenario illustrated in FIG. 5, Command 1 511 andCommand 3 513 both have SA confidence scores 521, 523 above thethreshold of 0.5 and are therefore categorized as system affecting;whereas Command 2 512 has an SA confidence score 522 below the thresholdof 0.5 and is therefore categorized as non-system affecting.

Referring to FIG. 6, flow diagram 600 shows further example details ofstep 207 of FIG. 2 for matching command arguments to event metadata inorder to “generalize” a given set of commands.

Each recorded command (step 601) is split into a command and a list ofarguments (at step 602). For each given argument (step 610), the methodmay check if the argument matches a metadata field (decision step 612)of the event metadata (at step 611) for each event in the event group.If there is no match, the attribute is kept static (step 613). For anymatches, the matching tokens are replaced (at step 614) with parametersallowing the commands to be used for other resources affected by similarissues. In this way, the command is generalized (step 603).

An example scenario is provided for a system experiencing an issue withits primary hard disk. Examples in the form of cut down versions of theevent attributes/metadata are provided:

Event 1

-   -   event-type: io_error    -   host: vm1.ldn.mycorp.com    -   component: /dev/sda1    -   identifier: io_error_vm1.ldn.mycorp.com

Event 2

-   -   event-type: file_system_ro    -   host: vm1.ldn.mycorp.com    -   mount-point: /home    -   component: /dev/sda1    -   identifier: file_system_ro_vm1.ldn.mycorp.com

The operator then starts a new CLI session in context of Event 2 andtypes the following commands:

-   -   umount /home    -   fdisk -y/dev/sda1    -   mount/dev/sda1/home

This is then parameterized by matching between the command arguments (initalics) and the event attributes. For the majority of commands,arguments may be identifiable in a defined way, typically separated byone or more spaces, and with the argument surrounded in quotes if theargument itself contains a space.

In this case, by matching the strings extracted from the commandarguments to the event attributes, the following parameterized set ofcommands is obtained:

-   -   umount {mount-point}    -   fdisk -y {component}    -   mount {component} {mount-point}

If a subsequent event group occurs with the same types (io_error andfile_system_ro), but have different values for those attributes, thesystem may apply this parameterized command set by filling in thecorrect values from the new events.

Referring to FIG. 7, a flow diagram 700 shows an example embodiment ofan aspect of the described method. After the method has sufficient datato build an automated runbook, the following method may be followed on asubsequent occurrence of a similar issue.

The event management application may correlate the problem eventsemitted by the affected resources into a grouping of related events toproduce a group event (step 701).

The method may determine whether to match a previous event type(s) tocurrent events (at decision step 702). If there is no match, the methodproceeds to the operations of FIG. 3 to record commands of an operatorfor the event group.

If there are matched event types, the method, in some embodiments,identifies the events as having the same cause as the previousoccurrences and will consequently associate the event group with anautomatically generated runbook. In some embodiments, the automatedrunbook gets a weighted list of generalized command sets that previouslyresulted in resolution (step 704).

In some embodiments, the method determines whether any command sets havea high weighting of resolution of step 208 of FIG. 2 (at decision step705). Based on the weighting level, some embodiments of the methodautomatically execute the generated runbook with commands with eventparameters (step 707), or present it to the user (or operator) for theoperator to select the command set (at decision step 706). If theoperator does not select the command set, the method proceeds to theoperations of FIG. 3 to record the commands for the event group (step703).

The parameterized arguments for the command sets are filled from themetadata of this occurrence of the event group and the commands areexecuted against the associated resources.

It may be determined, at decision step 708, whether the execution of therunbook resulted in resolution of the event. If the execution of therunbook resulted in the resolution of the event, then the command setmay be increased in weighting (at step 709). If not, the command set maybe decreased in weighting (at step 710).

If the operator was asked for confirmation, the operator may be asked,after the execution of the runbook, if it was successful in resolvingthe event. If it was, the weighting rating of the runbook is increased.In some embodiments, if the runbook was run automatically, the weightingrating of the runbook would be increased if event resolution occurred,or decreased if the event remained open.

The described method and system utilize the knowledge available from theexecution of user interactions in the context of an event.

A technique is described to collect and analyze textual CLI commands.The technique allows CLI commands to be used to generate a discrete setof weighted incident-addressing steps that can then be used as aresolution for future incidents.

This allows for entirely new runbooks to be generated automatically fromoperator interactions with affected resources and devices, without theneed for an existing runbook to be manually selected.

The described method includes determining if a command influences thesystem without requiring the entire state of every system that could beaffected to be captured at all points in time. The described methodderives meaning from the commands as well as determining if a commandinfluences a remote system that does not have comprehensive state changemonitoring.

This is achieved through several methods, including: (i) textualanalysis of the commands, (ii) analysis of monitoring and logging ofremote systems, and (iii) matching of resolution events associated withthe incident to operator commands. This has the advantage of workingwhen the operator issued commands affect multiple systems and itrequires less infrastructure to give results as there is no need for adedicated state tracking system to be installed on each device.

The described method takes advantage of additional context provided byan event generated directly from monitoring the affected system in orderto allow for the generalization of sets of commands, utilizing theattributes associated with an event to match parameters issued withincommands. This allows the command sets mined by the described method tobe applied to a wider variety of issues, not just those which requirethe exact commands issued.

Referring to FIG. 8, a block diagram shows an example embodiment of thedescribed system in the form of an event management system includingrunbook generation. Event management system 800 includes at least oneprocessor 801, a hardware module, or a circuit for executing thefunctions of the described components which may be software unitsexecuting on the at least one processor. Multiple processors runningparallel processing threads may be provided enabling parallel processingof some or all of the functions of the components. In some embodiments,memory 802 is configured to provide computer instructions 803 to atleast one processor 801 to carry out the functionality of thecomponents.

In some embodiments, Event management system 800 includes event groupcomponent 811 for identifying an event group relating to an issue. Thismay include correlating multiple events that share a root cause into asingle container as an event group relating to an issue.

In some embodiments, event management system 800 includes resourceconnecting component 812 receiving operator connection to a host toresolve the issue, extracting resource details from event metadata andconnecting to affected resources.

In some embodiments, event management system 800 includes runbookgenerating component 820 including command receiving component 821 forreceiving operator commands in a command line interface for an eventgroup relating to and resolving an issue. Command receiving component821 may receive operator commands from multiple command line interfacesessions with operator commands including configuration change events.

In some embodiments, runbook generating component 820 includes commandstoring component 822 for storing the operator commands as relatedartifacts of the event group with mapping to affected resources.

In some embodiments, runbook generating component 820 includes filteringcomponent 823 for filtering the operator commands to remove non-systemaffecting commands including system affecting command component 824 forcomparing to known system affecting sets of commands Filtering component823 includes confidence component 825 for calculating a confidence ofeach command being system affecting based on a combination of sources(in the event that the operator commands do not match known systemaffecting sets of commands).

In some embodiments, runbook generating component 820 includes commandgeneralizing component 826 for matching arguments of the operatorcommands to event metadata fields of events in the event group togeneralize the arguments to the event metadata. Command generalizingcomponent 826 includes checking if an argument matches a metadata fieldof event metadata and, if there is no match, keeping the argumentstatic, whereas if there is a match replacing the argument withparameters allowing the operator command to be used for other resources.

In some embodiments, runbook generating component 820 generate a runbookof generalized operator commands for future instances of an event groupof a similar type and may include event group type component 827 foranalyzing event group types and collating generalized commands run inthe context of an event group type.

In some embodiments, runbook generating component 820 includesresolution weighting component 828 for applying a resolution weightingto generalized operator commands in a runbook based on a number of timesthe operator commands result in resolution of an issue.

In some embodiments, event management system 800 includes runbookactivating component 813 for using a previously generated runbook for anew group of events. Runbook activating component 813 includes eventgroup type comparing component 814 receiving a new event group for anissue and comparing it to similar event group types with generatedrunbooks of generalized operator commands.

Runbook activating component 813 includes automatic command component815 for enabling automatic selection of operator commands with apredefined threshold resolution weighting.

FIG. 9 depicts a block diagram of components of a computing device ofevent management system 800 of FIG. 8, in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention. It should be appreciated that FIG. 9 providesonly an illustration of one implementation and does not imply anylimitations with regard to the environments in which differentembodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to the depictedenvironment may be made.

Computing device can include one or more processors 902, one or morecomputer-readable RAMs 904, one or more computer-readable ROMs 906, oneor more computer readable storage media 908, device drivers 912,read/write drive or interface 914, and network adapter or interface 916,all interconnected over a communications fabric 918. Communicationsfabric 918 can be implemented with any architecture designed for passingdata and/or control information between processors (such asmicroprocessors, communications and network processors, etc.), systemmemory, peripheral devices, and any other hardware components within thesystem.

One or more operating systems 910, and application programs 911, arestored on one or more of the computer readable storage media 908 forexecution by one or more of the processors 902 via one or more of therespective RAMs 904 (which typically include cache memory). In theillustrated embodiment, each of the computer readable storage media 908can be a magnetic disk storage device of an internal hard drive, CD-ROM,DVD, memory stick, magnetic tape, magnetic disk, optical disk, asemiconductor storage device such as RAM, ROM, EPROM, flash memory, orany other computer readable storage media that can store a computerprogram and digital information, in accordance with embodiments of theinvention.

Computing device can also include a R/W drive or interface 914 to readfrom and write to one or more portable computer readable storage media926. Application programs 911 on computing device can be stored on oneor more of the portable computer readable storage media 926, read viathe respective R/W drive or interface 914 and loaded into the respectivecomputer readable storage media 908.

Computing device can also include a network adapter or interface 916,such as a TCP/IP adapter card or wireless communication adapter.Application programs 911 on computing device can be downloaded to thecomputing device from an external computer or external storage devicevia a network (for example, the Internet, a local area network or otherwide area networks or wireless networks) and network adapter orinterface 916. From the network adapter or interface 916, the programsmay be loaded into the computer readable storage media 908. The networkmay comprise copper wires, optical fibers, wireless transmission,routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and edge servers.

Computing device can also include a display screen 920, a keyboard orkeypad 922, and a computer mouse or touchpad 924. Device drivers 912interface to display screen 920 for imaging, to keyboard or keypad 922,to computer mouse or touchpad 924, and/or to display screen 920 forpressure sensing of alphanumeric character entry and user selections.The device drivers 912, R/W drive or interface 914, and network adapteror interface 916 can comprise hardware and software stored in computerreadable storage media 908 and/or ROM 906.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

Cloud Computing

It is to be understood that although this disclosure includes a detaileddescription on cloud computing, implementation of the teachings recitedherein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented inconjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g., networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provisioncomputing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, asneeded automatically without requiring human interaction with theservice's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client devices through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail).The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloudinfrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage,or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exceptionof limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forload-balancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure that includes anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 10, illustrative cloud computing environment 50 isdepicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 50 includes one or morecloud computing nodes 10 with which local computing devices used bycloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (PDA)or cellular telephone 54A, desktop computer 54B, laptop computer 54C,and/or automobile computer system 54N may communicate. Nodes 10 maycommunicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown) physicallyor virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private, Community,Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combinationthereof. This allows cloud computing environment 50 to offerinfrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which a cloudconsumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingdevice. It is understood that the types of computing devices 54A-N shownin FIG. 10 are intended to be illustrative only and that computing nodes10 and cloud computing environment 50 can communicate with any type ofcomputerized device over any type of network and/or network addressableconnection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 11, a set of functional abstraction layersprovided by cloud computing environment 50 (FIG. 10) is shown. It shouldbe understood in advance that the components, layers, and functionsshown in FIG. 11 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments ofthe invention are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layersand corresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include: mainframes 61; RISC(Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers 62;servers 63; blade servers 64; storage devices 65; and networks andnetworking components 66. In some embodiments, software componentsinclude network application server software 67 and database software 68.

Virtualization layer 70 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers71; virtual storage 72; virtual networks 73, including virtual privatenetworks; virtual applications and operating systems 74; and virtualclients 75.

In one example, management layer 80 may provide the functions describedbelow. Resource provisioning 81 provides dynamic procurement ofcomputing resources and other resources that are utilized to performtasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing 82provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloudcomputing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may include applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal 83 provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management 84provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such thatrequired service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planningand fulfillment 85 provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of,cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipatedin accordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 90 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation 91; software development and lifecycle management 92; virtualclassroom education delivery 93; data analytics processing 94;transaction processing 95; and event management processing 96.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

Improvements and modifications can be made to the foregoing withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for generatingrunbooks for problem events, comprising: receiving operator commands ina command line interface for an event group relating to an issue,wherein the operator commands resolve the issue; determining that thereceived operator commands in the command line interface for the eventgroup is designated as a non-system affecting command, with thedesignation being based, at least in part, upon a system affecting (SA)confidence score value being below a predefined SA confidence valuethreshold; storing the operator commands as related artifacts of theevent group with mapping to affected resources, with the relatedartifacts being: (i) the operator commands entered by the operator in acommand line interface (CLI) for the event group, and (ii) stored in amanner such that the set of commands are linked; filtering the operatorcommands to remove non-system affecting commands by comparing to knownsystem affecting sets of commands; matching arguments of the operatorcommands to event metadata fields of events in the event group togeneralize the arguments to the event metadata; and generating a runbookof generalized operator commands for future instances of an event groupof a similar type.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, whereingeneralizing the arguments to event metadata includes checking if anargument matches a metadata field of event metadata and, if there is nomatch, keeping the argument static whereas, if there is a match,replacing the argument with parameters allowing the operator command tobe used for other resources.
 3. The method as claimed in claim 1,wherein generating the runbook includes analyzing event group types andcollating generalized commands run in the context of an event grouptype.
 4. The method as claimed in claim 1, including: applying aresolution weighting to generalized operator commands in a runbook basedon a number of times the operator commands result in resolution of anissue; and enabling automatic selection of operator commands with apredefined threshold weighting.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 4,including: receiving an event group for an issue and comparing it tosimilar event group types with generated runbooks of generalizedoperator commands; and automatically applying generalized operatorcommands if their resolution weighting is above a predefined thresholdweighting.
 6. The method as claimed in claim 5, including: increasingthe resolution weighting for generalized operator commands if the issueis successfully resolved.
 7. The method as claimed in claim 1,including: identifying an event group relating to an issue and receivingoperator connection to a host to resolve the issue; and extractingresource details from event metadata and connecting to affectedresources.
 8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein receivingoperator commands receives operator commands from multiple command lineinterface sessions with operator commands including configuration changeevents.
 9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, if the operatorcommands do not match known system affecting sets of commands,calculating a confidence of each command being system affecting based ona combination of sources.
 10. A computer program product (CPP) forgenerating runbooks for problem events, the computer program productcomprising: a computer readable storage medium; and computer code storedon the computer readable storage medium, with the computer codeincluding program instructions executable by a processor(s) set to causethe processor(s) set to perform at least the following operations:receive operator commands in a command line interface for an event grouprelating to an issue, wherein the operator commands resolve the issue,determining that the received operator commands in the command lineinterface for the event group is designated as a non-system affectingcommand, with the designation being based, at least in part, upon asystem affecting (SA) confidence score value being below a predefined SAconfidence value threshold, store the operator commands as relatedartifacts of the event group with mapping to affected resources, withthe related artifacts being: (i) the operator commands entered by theoperator in a command line interface (CLI) for the event group, and (ii)stored in a manner such that the set of commands are linked, filteringthe operator commands to remove non-system affecting commands bycomparing to known system affecting sets of commands match arguments ofthe operator commands to event metadata fields of events in the eventgroup to generalize the arguments to the event metadata, and generate arunbook of generalized operator commands for future instances of anevent group of a similar type.
 11. The CPP of claim 10 wherein the CPPis in the form of a computer system, and with the computer systemfurther comprising: the processor(s) set operatively connected incommunication with the computer readable storage medium so that theprocessor(s) set can execute the program instructions.
 12. The CPP asclaimed in claim 10, wherein the command generalizing programinstructions for generalizing the arguments to event metadata includesprogram instructions checking if an argument matches a metadata field ofevent metadata and, if there is no match, keeping the argument staticwhereas, if there is a match, replacing the argument with parametersallowing the operator command to be used for other resources.
 13. TheCPP as claimed in claim 10, wherein the runbook generating programinstructions for generating the runbook includes an event group typeprogram instructions for analyzing event group types and collatinggeneralized commands run in the context of an event group type.
 14. TheCPP as claimed in claim 10, wherein the computer code further comprisesprogram instructions for causing the processor(s) set to perform thefollowing operations: applying a resolution weighting to generalizedoperator commands in a runbook based on a number of times the operatorcommands result in resolution of an issue; and enabling automaticselection of operator commands with a predefined threshold weighting.15. The CPP as claimed in claim 10, wherein the computer code furthercomprises program instructions for causing the processor(s) set toperform the following operations: identifying an event group relating toan issue and receiving operator connection to a host to resolve theissue; and extracting resource details from event metadata andconnecting to affected resources.
 16. The CPP as claimed in claim 10,wherein the command receiving program instructions for receivingoperator commands receives operator commands from multiple command lineinterface sessions with operator commands including configuration changeevents.
 17. The CPP as claimed in claim 10, wherein the filteringprogram instructions include a confidence program instructions that,responsive to the operator commands not matching known system affectingsets of commands, calculate a confidence of each command being systemaffecting based on a combination of sources.
 18. A method comprising:receiving a problem-resolution command data set including informationindicative of: (i) a plurality of commands used to resolve a firstoccurrence of a problem event that occurred in operation of a firstcomputer system, and (ii) each given command of the plurality ofcommands, argument value data respectively corresponding to value(s) ofargument(s) of the given command; for each given argument value of eachgiven argument data of each given command of the plurality of commands,determining, by machine logic, a machine logic formula for determiningthe given argument value based on characteristics and/or operationalparameter values of computer systems other than the first computersystem; and creating a first script for handling the problem event, thefirst script including: (i) the plurality of commands, and (ii) themachine logic formulas for given argument value.